pseudo-gods and hinduism
From the Bhakti List Archives
• August 15, 2000
Respected devotees, I have the following to humbly offer as my perspective regarding this rather strongly worded post: >I put forth the few lines which are haunting me since a few >years. These are about two self-styled / self-declared >incarnations of Lord Vishnu or Lord Siva or Adi Sesha. To the best of my knowledge, neither of these "self-styled" people declared THEMSELVES as incarnations of the supreme god. Its the people around them who did so. Therefore, the ire may have been partially misdirected. > He is the present craze of all people all over India. >I do not know. Stories are concocted that he is the kaliyuga >incarnation of Lord Vishnu (I have come across his photos, Exactly! These are STORIES concocted by the people and must be treated as such. If we take this seriously, we must go the whole none yards and PROVE that the claims are false. Vitriolic rhetoric without proof will only serve to inflame passions and encourage mudslinging leading to even more divisiveness and misunderstanding. > People have stooped to such a depraved extent that they >believe more in him than our Lord Sriman Narayanan or Lord >Shiva as if our Hindu Gods are 'impotent'. Respected sir, is the 'impotent' part your inference or have devotees really said that? Please do not mistake my intent - I am NOT a Sai devotee myself - I am merely an ordinary hindu with a deep faith in the supreme lord who is seeking to examine issues with an open mind without preconcieved notions. Curiosity regarding this phenomenon led me to attend one of the Sai Bhajan sessions in my neighborhood. My experience was quite different. The Bhajans sung praised Rama, Krishna and our other Hindu gods. What they stressed on was how there is only one god and how there are different margas to reach him. In fact, I was VERY pleasantly surprised when they sang an English Bhajan that went "Om Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram - Chant the name so divine - Praise the name so holy and pure..". I am not entirely convinced that people who can sing such Bhajans with fervour can possibly think of our gods as impotent. I hasten to admit that this was my first and only experience at such a gathering and you may know more from your own experience. >He may be a good person (I do not know this too),but >let us not equate him with God. I find his photo in many of >thehouses.I do not mind that, but what is causing heartburn to >me is that I findhis photo is our own Great Sri Vaishanavas's >homes in Pooja Mandiram just besides our Great Salagramam and >Udaivar's photo. Could the motivation here have been because our scriptures say "Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu Guru devo Maheshwara" and "Matru devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava, Guru Devo Bhava"? He could have been placed there because his followers respected him as a Guru and not because they thought he was god. Its only a suggestion. Afterall, dont out scriptures say that true enlightenment is impossible unless learnt at the feet of a learned guru and hence the deep respect for our teachers in our culture? > Verbatimly speaking, the word of "Sai" means "a >prophet of Muslim religion", so how can a muslim person become >"our" Hindu Guru, or HinduGod (as he is referred to). Maybe because in the Bhagavad Gita Bhagawan Sri Krishna says that I am the only god and no matter which route you choose, you will finally come to me if you follow the path you have chosen with sincerity and faith? If you take him at his word, what difference does it make if the person is addressed as a muslim or a christian in his human form? Isn't it only true and sincere faith that matters? We will all reach the lord's lotus feet in the end, he promises us. That brings to my mind a quote by Swami Chinmayananda " There are only two kinds of people in this world - Hindus and people who are actually hindus but dont know it yet!" :) >To gain popularity, the propogators of this Sai satsang have >stooped to such depraved state that they distribute a pamphlet >to all persons to whom they come in contact. The pamphlet >reads like this : "Afterreading this pamphlet you are required >to send 500/1000 copies are all your nearand dear. The result >-- you may win a lottery. On the other hand, if youtear off >this, a big catastrophe may take place in your life". For a >common man who comes across this, the fear that may take place >may compel him circulate 500 copies. I somehow percieve this as amusing rather than as a threat to our religion. Its a lot like these email chain letters. At least email doesn't cost money to forward. Think what will happen when the poor chap spends money from his pocket to make 500 copies and waits for ever more to win that lottery. Do you think that being Rs.50 poorer and no lottery money in sight will make him any kind of a true devotee of Sai Baba, especially if it was done out of greed as you suggest? Don't we have such people among our mainstream Hindus itself? All these people who buy a lottery ticket from the stall outside the temple with promises to shave their heads at Tirupati if they win the lottery are all in the same boat, aren't they? >Or the avarice of making a quick fortune makeshim to circulate >the copies. That's how he submits his 'soul' to the so-called >ordinary Muslim person. I have my misgivings about the above statement - If the "soul" is the atman and if we believe our scriptures that say "Tat Tvam asi", then aren't all of us manifestations of god? Please correct me if I am wrong - I though it was because we Hindus believe that, we have the habit of performing "namaskaram" to our elders, respected ones and especially our gurus. I thought a namaskaram was a way of symbolically saying "I surrender my ego in front of you, whose atma has realized god in his pure state". Isn't that the justification why even older people in the Grihastaashrama perform namaskaram to a Brahmachari/Sanyasi who is supposed to be more god realized because of their austerities and knowledge? If we are to reject that concept of god in fellow humans as other religions do, THEN submitting once ego (I think of it as a submission of the ego rather than of the soul) to another human being would be wrong. Could someone more learned please clarify my doubt? >Kindly excuse me for using this foul language,but >I do not find suitable words to vent out my anger on this >Pseudoincarnation of Lord Vishnu / Shiva -- I would call this >submission ofsoulto another person other than to our God (our >Hindu God - be it LordVishnu or Lord Shiva) as "Prostitution" >- "Prostitution of the Soul". Why do we continue to harbor this concept of a "Hindu god" and a non-hindu god if god is Brahman and Sri Krishna unequivocally states that I am the only one and that all roads lead to me? Isn't that what each of the non-hindu gods say? I took it to mean that all roads lead to Rome, in this case, the one god. I can call Rome by any other name but that does not change the nature of what Rome is - similarly god. All that I ask is I be allowed to call god by the name that I prefer - Sri Krishna and be allowed to follow my path of reaching him. Why denounce anothers choice by the same token? >Idiomatically speaking, "if a lie is told thousand times, it >becomes "Truth" with the passage of time and becomes ingrained >deep inour minds". Only to the unenlightened and those who want to believe it. The Sattvic personality that is supposed to be our highest aspiration as human beings according to the Bhagawad Gita, Chapter 18, verse 20, is supposed to have the ability to clearly discern the truth from the falsehood. I believe that if it were not Sai Baba, the people who want to be misled will believe something else. We should be addressing the cause of this problem and not the effect. The cause is lack of knowledge and proper guidance. I have one very strong positive thing to say about these religious leaders though - They have done an incredible amount of social service among India's poorest and weakest than I, who spend thousands travelling to India to visit the holy places with my deep belief in Hinduism have not. For this reason alone, they deserve to be praised rather than condemned because without their efforts god knows how many more of India's poorest would have been enticed into Christianity by the west-funded missionaries. Atleast now, these people sing of Rama and Krishna - without the Sai Baba's, most of these people would have sold their souls for money to the missionaries which should be considered even more depraved. Respectfully, Shuba. ________________________________________________ Get your own "800" number - Free Free voicemail, fax, email, and a lot more http://www.ureach.com/reg/tag --------------------------------------------------------------------http://click.egroups.com/1/8011/5/_/716111/_/966371310/ --------------------------------------------------------------------|e>- -------------------------------------------------------------- - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH - To Post a message, send it to: bhakti-list@eGroups.com Visit http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/ for more information
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